​For the last few months, I’ve been enjoying the creative process of bringing my focus on remote work out into the wider world via the Remote Pathways Podcast. If you haven’t stopped by for a listen, please do! You can listen in here.

​In the Remote Pathways Podcast we explore the people, places and practices of remote work today. The podcast spans the ecosystem of remote work, which I bring to life via the Digital Dozen™, twelve different types of remote workers. From those who are attached to, and lead, larger corporate teams in the business sector, to solopreneurs, those who Work From Anywhere, mobile Sales Professionals, as well as project managers who lead global teams. Remote work has never been so diverse.

Regardless of the differences to the type of work we do, most of us experience similar challenges. I say this with confidence, as over the last three decades I have worn many of the different hats in inhabiting a variety of roles in working the remote, mobile and virtual space.

Today’s blog post explores eight differences when working in the remote space. Consider how these impact you:

Autonomy - The paradigm of leadership when managing a remote team needs to change from an older model of control and micro-management, to one which empowers and coaches. With team members potentially multiple time zones away, and sometimes a lengthy plane ride, as leaders we need to shift our role to one of liaison, trouble-shooter and empowerer. Our team members are the ones “on the ground” with the expertise we will never have in our parachute meetings with them. What are you doing to shift the way you lead and empower your team?

Skills - Related to the shift in formal leadership, remote teams benefit when an emphasis is placed on building and equipping all team members with skills in leadership, teamwork etc. everyone on a remote team will benefit from skills in communication, decision making,  prioritization, not just the formal leader. What are you doing to equip all your team members with skills?

Connections with others - I recently hosted a community call I entitled “No person is an island”. In Effective Virtual Conversations, I started writing about the importance of remote workers being intentional in exploring what their connections are with others. In a team-based context, the work I am doing, or not, may have a significant impact on a team member half a world away.
With this in mind, it’s important that team members do get a regular opportunity to spend time with each other – formally in meetings and possibly informally in virtual co-working sessions. Building in processes in meetings and systems to help team members see the connection between their work, boosts productivity and engagement.

What are you doing to create formal and informal virtual work events to connect and collaborate?

The Matrix -  In a remote work situation it’s likely that team members may be part of multiple teams. This has implications around being very clear around roles, goals and priorities, as well as making sure that team culture is strong. If I am a member of the Toronto team, and also a special projects team, am I clear about the differences in team culture, and priorities? Spending time as a remote team clarifying how you want to work together is an essential part of high performance. I share more about this in part 3 of Effective Virtual Conversations.

There are many other differences which exist from motivation, and inner drive, to relationship building and visibility. I’ll be sure to address some of these other important distinctions in tomorrow’s post.

Looking for support to shift you in working remote? Let's set up a time to connect and discuss  your coaching, or team development needs around remote working.  Email or phone.

Best,
​Jennifer

​As an increasing number of people are moving to remote working conditions, what are the things you can do to set yourself up for remote working success?

​Let’s take a look back at Teams365 #2066. Here’s what I wrote in that post from earlier last year:

A tipping point around remote work seems to be starting to occur - with more and more organizations realizing that a key part of the talent equation is more flexible working arrangements. With large and small companies embracing remote work arrangements, we are seeing very compelling research and data around how remote work can support employee engagement and productivity. Read about what Craig Thornton of Telus shared recently about how remote work benefits both employer and employee.

This was a focus of my 2017 writing in my book Effective Virtual Conversations and continues to be a significant part of the work I am focusing on with teams and organizations today.

As someone who has supported remote workers and teams for several decades now, it’s great to see the tide turn again back to putting the flexibility in workers’ hands.

Today’s post and tomorrow’s post will explore what organizations and teams will want to do in setting themselves up for remote work success this fall.

Today’s post looks at it from the macro, organizational level. Tomorrow’s post will look at it from the employee’s perspective.
​
Four things organizations will want to ensure they do, are:

1. Specify expectations around work output and quality. What gets measured in any work space should be the work output. Unfortunately, what often gets equated with success is how much time goes into making something happen. In the remote space, the success unit is OUTPUT.

Therefore, consider questions such as: What will success look like with work output for each employee? What are the expectations in terms of work, use of materials, security etc.?

2. Provide connection with the office and other team members. Collaboration is just as important – and sometimes even more so – in the remote space. Be sure to spend time focusing in on orienting people across the organization and provide virtual events so people can get together. Invest in remote team development. How are you connecting people formally and informally?

Beyond meetings, are there virtual events people can join – lunch and learns; co-working opportunities etc.?

3. Adopt the mantra that “out of sight does not mean out of mind”. One of the pitfalls to the transition to a remote work environment is that people can feel that they are not connected. Out of sight does not mean out of mind. Look at how you communicate and value connection and teamwork. Think about how communication and meetings can become more intentional and focused. Think about how you are bringing people together and connecting them with the communication which is needed.

4. Provide the tools and resources to make this happen. The transition to working remote arrangements takes time. It also requires a mind shift in many instances. What tools and resources are needed? What changes in the way you work is required?

For more tips on working remote be sure to check out my 2017 book Effective Virtual Conversations. Part 1 focuses on the ecosystem of the virtual space where conversations take place (from education to coaching to teams), Part 2 explores HOW you can work more effectively (meetings, program design etc.), and Part 3 focuses on virtual leadership, and virtual teams in the remote space.

What can you be doing to set yourself up for remote working success?

Best wishes, 
​Jennifer

It’s time for another Monday Effective Virtual Conversations Tip, with this week getting you to think about, and ask your remote work colleagues about, What’s Outside your Window?

The landscape of work today is amazing. From those who WFA – Work From Anywhere, to those who go to a traditional office with walls, to those who go to an office but are in a hotelling space. The “What’s Outside your Window” may take people to a window that looks outside, or a window that looks out of their conference room.

In the digital space we only have a very small window into the world of our colleagues. Helping to expand that window is key in terms of getting a sense of their context, as well as the reality of the workspace.

When I published Effective Virtual Conversations back in 2017, I had been using this quick introductory exercise of asking “What’s outside your window?” for several years. Now many more years later upon asking group after group, I’m still amazed by how this simple question creates new connections and a new energy to our remote work.

Recently I’ve had people join us from planes, and trains, and of course their office. Technology has made mobile conversations part of the everyday experience for some, and for others still something that is “out there”. Regardless of where you are, my guess is we have a type of support that could help you further augment your conversations. Consider joining me for the next Virtual Facilitation Essentials program, which kicks off in about 10 days (and starts with new groups every few months). We’ll be taking a deeper look at some of the “Bells and Whistles” you can be incorporating into your work.
​
Enjoy!

Our focus this month here at the Teams365 blog is all about relationships. Whether you work in an office or work full time from home, my guess is that somehow you have a touchpoint with one or more team members, or customers, who are remote. One recent study around job postings found that the growth since 2018 had been 151%.
​
This means that we all can benefit from learning how to make remote relationships work better. Many things are magnified in the remote space – distance, lack of clarity, focus.

Today’s post explores several areas which can be excellent areas of focus for professionals today. Let’s look at them in turn.

Proactivity – Just like today’s post graphic shows “Remote does not mean disconnected”.  We want to avoid the “out of sight equals out of mind” mindset. Being proactive when working remote or working with those who work remote is key. This means being proactive with communication, meetings, feedback, outreach, and relationship building.

What are the conversations you want to have this week?

Asking Questions – Assumptions can abound in the remote space. If we don’t see, or know other people’s context, we can fall into the trap of thinking we know or understand their world. Asking questions becomes a critical skill as we shift to building relationships in the remote space. We’ll be exploring this topic more tomorrow.

Be Present – When you are in conversation, are you present? Are you multi-tasking? Research shows we can’t do to heavily cognitive tasks at once, so if you are on a conference call, or having a conversation, just do one thing.

Listening – Listening skills are critical. In the remote space when we can’t see each other. We lose the visual cues in many remote conversations, especially if we are not streaming. With this in mind, the tone and choice of words take on even greater significance. What are you listening for? What’s not being said? Even if we can see each other, what is happening outside of people’s screen?

Be Curious – Ongoing learning is part of the reality of remote workspaces. Not knowing everything (or even 10% sometimes) is also part of the reality of remote work. What are you curious about? What do you want to know more about? What do you still have to learn? Adopting a learner’s mindset or shifting into a growth mindset is key.

Be Intentional – Intentionality is also key. Part of designing good conversations may be to hold an intention or create a shared intention together.  Here’s a great article by Marla Tabaka on making the practice of setting intentions, as well as goals and vision.

Work Together – What are your intersection points the two of you have together? Opportunities for collaboration? Spend some time getting to know each other (more on this topic next week), as well as spend some time designing your conversational touchpoints.

A reminder that if you work remote, join us at the Remote Pathways podcast. Co-host Michelle Mullins and I explore the various pathways of the remote space in bi-weekly episodes. Be sure to also check out the 52 weeks blog series I’m hosting this year at Remote Pathways.
 
Enjoy your Tuesday,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Everything DiSC
Phone (416)996-8326

Get your planning on with the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner or Coaching Business Builder
Looking to enhance your virtual conversations? Webinars? Pick up a copy of Effective Virtual Conversations at Amazon.
Check out upcoming programs on our calendar!

The remote workspace is growing significantly. One recent article indicated that the number of job postings alone indicating remote work has grown 151% since 2018. With this in mind, the ability to work effectively in the remote space is essential.

Part of the shift to effective virtual or remote leadership involves today’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip of SHARE THE REINS.

In the remote space, engagement is key. If people don’t feel connected, they are unlikely to bring their best self to work.

Why It’s Important
Back to where we started with this blog post – sharing the reins is critical for remote work success. We need to involve everyone in the conversation. It’s not just a leader’s perspective on a remote team that is essential. Everyone has a piece of the puzzle! The insights I can bring from being “on the ground” in Toronto may be just as important, or more important than what my leader can see. As we’ve explored in other posts, the ability for a leader to step back and coach becomes a critical skill for remote leaders today.

What sharing the reins looks like:

• Having team members rotate roles including leading meetings.
• It may also involve fostering a peer focused culture where the role of the leader primarily focuses on liaison and trouble shooting.

What changes can you make in this area to support your team?

Wishing you all the best,
​Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Everything DiSC
Phone (416)996-8326

Get your planning on with the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner or Coaching Business Builder
Looking to enhance your virtual conversations? Webinars? Pick up a copy of Effective Virtual Conversations at Amazon.
Check out upcoming programs on our calendar!

Are you needing to move your training, meetings or other conversations to the virtual or remote space quickly, but don't know how? Need to ramp up your skills and understanding of leading and holding conversations virtually QUICKLY?

We specialize in providing support and skill development with remote work and having effective virtual conversations. Check out my 2017 book, Effective Virtual Conversations, on Amazon.

For those that need to get up to speed with virtualizing their offerings, or working with people who can't physically get together, over the next few months I'll be offering a special one-day offering of the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program each Wednesday. This program is geared to give you the basics on leading effective virtual conversations whether you  are leading conference calls, webinars or interactive web streaming sessions.

Usually delivered as five weeks (as it will continue to be -and will start again on Feb 24th)  these special one day sessions will run from 830 - 430 pm Eastern/New York Via Zoom.

In this special offering our time together will be spent 
Module 1 – Virtual Facilitation Foundations

• Four Essential ingredients for virtual facilitation
• The range of virtual facilitation options
• Core Skills for Virtual Facilitation -and how yours stack up

Module 2 – Approaches and Engagement Strategies for Effective Virtual Learning

• Different virtual design options
• Foundations of engagement – practical approaches for engagement
• Core elements for Effective, and Engaging, Virtual Events

Module 3 – Building your Facilitation Toolkit
Whether you are leading meetings, webinars or other virtual events, having a robust toolkit to draw up upon is key. This session introduces you to more than 12 virtual facilitation approaches – from openers, to closers to goal setting and accountability in the virtual space.

Module 4 – Exploring the Technologies

• Exploring breakouts and technology issues
• Core logistical issues to consider
• Different roles in a virtual event
• Evaluating virtual events

Module 5 - Tricky issues and how to keep the conversation going
Your action planning

You'll also have the opportunity to "get behind the dashboard" of virtual sessions, and you'll get to practice some of the more essential elements of starting calls, recording, doing breakouts etc.

The one day intensive virtual format will be a just-in-time opportunity to learn and start gaining confidence in your skills. The program will be of interest to people who need to lead virtual conversations quickly. For those that have more time to learn, join us for the more extended five week program.

This special one-day program will be offered on Wednesdays. You can choose from:

Wednesday February 5 - 8 - 4 pm Eastern/New York - virtually
Wednesday  February 12 - 10 - 6 pm Eastern/New York
Wednesday February 19 - 8 - 4 pm Eastern/New York
Wednesday February 26 - 8-4 pm Eastern/New York

Cost: $475 US which includes the one day virtual session, a 15 minute pre call and post call, plus module notes which include the core elements of our training.  You'll also have access to a robust video library of more than 2 dozen calls related to virtual facilitation and coaching. 
For those that want Continuing  Coach Education, they can complete a 2 hour blended learning assignment for a total of 8.5 hours of CCES with the ICF.

Questions - reach out and contact me, Jennifer Britton, by phoen at 416-996-8326. Reach out by email here.

Learn more about the program at EffectiveVirtualConversations.com

Best wishes,
​Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Author of Effective Virtual Conversations
(416)996-8326

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversation Tip #125 takes us back into the vault of past EVC tips. This one brings us back to #25 which was “Feedback from your group is essential to facilitation growth and mastery”.

What feedback are you receiving BEFORE, DURING and AFTER, your virtual facilitation engagements? Feedback is critical at all stages.

Feedback before the session may take the form of connecting with learners before the program via voice and/or survey. Questions might include a focus on:

• What are you looking forward to learning?
• What should I know about your experience in the virtual learning space?
• How do you learn best?
• What’s important about this topic for you? Your work? Etc.

You may even ask people about how they will be following up with the learning.
Sometimes people feel that they may be speaking into a black hole. Taking time to get feedback during the session is also important. This might involve asking:

• For people to share an emoji
• To have people circle a number on the screen where they are in terms of their learning
• To share in chat what they are learning? What they are they going to do next?

Building in time at the end of the day to receive feedback around these questions can also be important. That might include some of these questions and/or questions along these lines:

• What worked well?
• What are you taking away?
• What should we do differently next time?

A third touchpoint where you may receive feedback about the session is:

• Right after the event with a traditional survey which may go out to measure impact.

A few weeks after the event you may also want to build in a final touchpoint which can not only serve as a point of evaluation but also as an opportunity for enhanced accountability. For many of the groups I work with, we will look to schedule a call about a month after the session to check in around what they are putting into practice and what questions they have.

Take a look at what we covered earlier in EVC Tip 25. Read the original EVC Tip #25 here.

What are the conversations you want to have?

Best, 
​Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Writing 
Phone (416)996-8326
 
As we step into the end of the year, get your planning on with the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner or Coaching Business Builder
Looking to enhance your virtual conversations? Webinars? Pick up a copy of Effective Virtual Conversations at Amazon.

​While this may be the last day of work for several of you reading today’s post, we still have another 11 days to go in the year. I thought it would be appropriate to link back to a great post from 2016 which included 10 questions for you to take stock of the last year. I hope that you enjoy the reflection and if you are signing off work for a few weeks – Enjoy!

Here’s what I wrote:

Today's post gets you to start turning your attention to some stock taking of this past year. We've got a little less than a week left in the year, and between the parties and presents and eating and resting, it can be a great time to take stock of the year. Here at the Teams365 blog this year we've focused on a range of topic areas including Virtual Facilitation, Global Leadership, New Leadership tips, Exercises to Undertake With Your Team. I also did a couple of series including the Foundations of Feedback, the Foundations of Teamwork, and the Goals. I’m sure you've picked up our bias here at Potentials Realized that success in today's business context is so dependent on Results, Relationships as well as Learning.

I hope that you will grab 15 minutes today or this week to reflect on these 10 questions to help you take stock of the past year. I'll be following up in a few days with ten more questions to support you in creating your vision for the new year.

Here are ten questions to support you in taking a look back at the last year:
1. What's been your biggest success this year?
2. What are you most proud of accomplishing? OR What were your greatest results?
3 What habits have most supported you this year?
4. What three adjectives sum up the year for you?
5. What were key relationships instrumental to your success and experience this year?
6. What has been your biggest, and most important, learning this year?
7. If you were to give this year a book title, what would it be?
8. What do you want to make sure you keep doing in the new year? What do you want to stop doing?
9. What do you want to acknowledge yourself for?
10. What and how will you celebrate the successes of 2016? With whom?

Enjoy your reflection!

Have a great day,
Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Writing 
Phone (416)996-8326
 
As we step into the end of the year, get your planning on with the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner or Coaching Business Builder
Looking to enhance your virtual conversations? Webinars? Pick up a copy of Effective Virtual Conversations at Amazon.

Coaches - I hope that you'll join us for the 60Day Coaching Business Builder Accelerator which starts January 1st - it's a blended live and on-dmeand program. First live call Jan 6th.

As we move towards the end of the year, it’s an opportune time to focus in on the systems in your work. Systems help us automate routine tasks and also create consistency. Systems help us with information sharing and leveraging tasks and processes. This is key when people and projects may move not only in an office but move to different locations.

As we move to year end, it can be an important time to dedicate some focus on anchoring in the systems we have been using, developing others and/or making sure systems and focused.

This year I’ve mentioned systems several times. They are an important part of keeping a remote or global business running consistently, ensuring that our customer or clients experience is the same from location to location.

In larger organizations, systems are likely to be well established, but in start ups or smaller organizations it’s likely that they are not as well developed.

You might consider the systems you have as it relates to sharing of information around projects, special initiatives and tasks. One of the challenges as teams move into the remote space is that information flow may not be as smooth. If you have people needing to access information and work on shared documents or with shared information what needs attention. This may involve nomenclature around how documents are saved and where things get digitally filed. IT may also involve a mindset shift around how items get documented and shared.

• Communication (Internal/External, team communication)
• Performance
• Goals
• Projects
• Marketing/Business Cases/Case Studies

What else?

If you have not taken a look at this month’s Effective Virtual Conversations call which I held on November 4th around Remote and Virtual Team Tools, do take a look. In the 25-minute call I share five key areas you will want to explore and possibly incorporate with your team – from communication tools, to team development tools, to project management tools.

What is the one tool you know you can’t live without? For me, I would say it is Zoom. Whether I am leading a group session or hosting an individual coaching session, Zoom allows me to seamlessly move throughout calls all day long, seeing my clients without having to travel  (sometimes thousands of miles to see them!). While travel is a passion for some, having spent the better part of my first decade plus of my working career travelling for a living, I so appreciate getting to reconnect with places without having to physically go there.

Wishing you the best,
Jennifer 

​Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Writing 
Phone (416)996-8326
 
As we step into the end of the year, get your planning on with the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner or Coaching Business Builder
Looking to enhance your virtual conversations? Webinars? Pick up a copy of Effective Virtual Conversations at Amazon.

This week’s blog post focuses in on the important topic of retention, or memorability of calls.

It’s likely that the call you are hosting today is one of many virtual sessions people are dropping into. What are you going to do to make it memorable?

As I shared in Teams365 15  Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #37 – As Suzuki Writes:  “We make things memorable when things are novel, surprizing, emotional and attention grabbing”. What are the things you can be doing to create this?

A couple of things that we can do to make it memorable include:
Jazzing it up – including a video you have created or something a creator has shared on YouTube. (Always be sure to confirm usage rights, and when in doubt, reach out!).

Provide an opportunity for people to talk about their experiences in smaller groups. Check out if breakouts are an option in your platform. If so, could you build in a 5-10 minute section where people share how the topic connects to them and what they can do.

Prime people for the fact that the call is going to be different than usual. Let people know what you can expect. Start your call off differently – perhaps with something more personally involved than others. Note that as people are coming onto a call it may take them a few minutes to get grounded. We may be unfocused based on what we are experiencing.

IN addition to talking about the topic, are there some graphics which can be incorporated into the session? What additional follow up can people engage with? Note that you may want to consider both pre and post work.

As I shared earlier this year in my March 2019 Effective Virtual Conversations calls, Ebbinghaus did initial research on what we retain and what we remember. He created what is now known as the forgetting curve. In essence, as time progresses, as days progressed, we remember even less.

And so how can we boost that? There are several things that he found really made a difference. The meaningfulness of the information, the way it's represented, as well as some physiological factors, stress, sleep, et cetera.
Using some of the techniques I’ve outlined in the first part of the blog post may also help to boost retention. What do you want to incorporate to support enhanced retention?


Best wishes, 
​Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Writing
Phone (416)996-8326
 
As we step into the end of the year, get your planning on with the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner or Coaching Business Builder

Looking to enhance your virtual conversations? Webinars? Pick up a copy of Effective Virtual Conversations at Amazon.